Poll: 1 out of 3 Americans inaccurately think most Hispanics are undocumented

For many non-Latino Americans, the words “Latino” and “illegal immigrant” are one and the same. A new poll released by by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Latino Decisions finds over 30 percent of non-Hispanics believe a majority (over half) of Hispanics are undocumented. However, the actual figure of undocumented Hispanics in the U.S. is around 18 percent, and only 37 percent of U.S. Hispanics are actually immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. (Pew Hispanic was not involved in the poll).

These are some of the findings of the poll, which focuses on how media portrayals impact public opinion of Latinos and immigrants.

“There is widespread exposure to negative stereotypes of Latinos in the media, and exposure to these images and stereotypes does have a causal effect on people’s perceptions,” explains political scientist Matt Barreto, principal at Latino Decisions.

“The media is doing a disservice with coverage that is misleading the public about Latinos who live in the U.S.,” said National Hispanic Media Coalition president and CEO Alex Nogales. “It is producing attitudes among non-Latinos that contribute to hate speech and hate crimes. We must demand that the media do a better job with its coverage,” Nogales added in a press conference in Washington D.C. today.

To see if there was a link between media portrayals and views of Hispanics, Latino Decisions conducted an online interactive experiment with over 3,000 non-Latino participants. They were randomly shown either negative or positive one-minute clips of Hispanics. According to the report, exposure to just one negative clip predicted higher Latino stereotyping in terms of criminal activity, Latino families being too large, or impressions that Hispanics are “illegal immigrants.” For example, almost half — 49 percent — of non-Latinos who heard a negative radio clip thought Hispanics take jobs away from Americans, whereas 33 percent of those who heard a positive radio story thought the same.

“Whether it was an entertainment, news, radio or print clip, there was a causal effect after exposure to these images,” says Barreto. After seeing a positive Latino TV news clip, 68 percent of respondents thought Hispanics were “honest,” (compared to 53 percent who saw a negative television news spot) and 61 percent thought Hispanics were “neighborly and welcoming” (compared to 48 percent who saw a negative news clip).

Yet the association between “Hispanic” and “illegal immigrant” is pretty strong, despite positive clips. Even after watching Latino actor Jimmy Smits play a U.S. president on “West Wing,” 54 percent of respondents still thought “illegal immigrants” applied to Latinos, and print and television news consumers were not far behind (48 and 47 percent).

The study also found less than half (47 percent) of non-Latinos describe Hispanics as patriotic, even after watching positive TV news images of Latinos.

What about the relationship between what Americans choose to watch or read and their views on Latinos? The study found strong correlations. For example, 41 percent of conservative radio talk show listeners think Latinos take jobs away from other Americans, over twice the rate of National Public Radio listeners (19 percent held this opinion). Illinois Democratic congressman Luis Gutiérrez stated he sees the consequences of negative talk radio in his office on public policy issues such as immigration. “We get calls in my office from angry and outraged talk radio listeners several times a week filled with misconceptions and negative stereotypes,” said Gutiérrez in a statement. “The reality is that when you strip away the anger, underneath there is a lot of consensus among Democrats, Republicans, and independents on the immigration issue and how to get things back on a legal footing,” he added.

Another part of the poll interviewed 900 non-Latino respondents on their views of Hispanics as well as media portrayals of Hispanics. Seventy one percent of those polled say they usually see Latinos portrayed as criminals or gang members, for example, whereas only 5 percent say they see Latinos in television or film roles as doctors, nurses, judges or lawyers.

NHMC plans to share the results of this study with the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

One positive trend when it comes to Americans’ perceptions of Hispanics is demographics. While only 12 percent of 40-to-69-year-olds report strong interactions with Hispanics, 55 percent of 18-39-year-olds have markedly strong ties to Latinos, which is associated with more positive perceptions of Hispanic-Americans.

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My ancestors came to America in the 1600 & 1700’s from Spain and were given a spanish land grant to settle in the South Texas area when it was under the contraco of Spain. Does this make me an imigrant?

Lou Dobbs is the leader in pushing anti Latino sentiment across America. Then there is the entire Fox news network and the tea people with the misspelled racist signs.

Don't worry America. Those 40-70 year old's who have nothing but hatred will die out in approx. 30 years.

America only moves forward...... Well unless republicans are in charge.

September 12, 2012 at 6:16 pm

I think something that needs to be examined in this assertion is that many people (myself included) believe that if you are born here from parents who are illegal then the term Illegal should still apply. I'm fairly liberal in my beliefs but the US has a set of rules which need to be followed to come here and to break those not only spits in the face of those who DO wait their turn (so to speak) but also means the very first thing someone does when they come here is to break the law. Its untenable. Additionally people like to focus on those who were brought here as children but don't focus on the issue of penalizing the parents of those people. If we're to allow benefits to folks who "came here as no fault of their own" you are literally giving an encouragement to those are trying to bring their kids here because they know they won't be punished and their children will gain the benefit of living here (and potentially getting scholarships and aid to go to school from the government). We have enough poor folks here in America without taking everybody else's too.

I think you call them Republicans! LOL Hey people, if you don't like Hispanics, I have some advice for you. You need to learn to pick your own fruit, wash your own cars, mow your own lawn, blow your own leaves, build your own house, etc etc....Good Luck!

The first thing we need to do is stop calling ourselves mexican americans, african americans, italian americans, cuban amercian and so on and so forth. We are americans, those who are born in this country are americans period. So much racism in these comment, it sad to see the we as people can not come together and just enjoy one another culture and background. If we want to change this view, this thought process, first we must change our own ways of thinking. Unfortunately, hate and racism is passed down from parent to child that is where we need to stop this cancer that plagues our great nation. I agree if anyone wants to come to this country they should do it the right way, but we need to stop all this hate because at the end of the day we are all human no matter color, language, height, weight, and etc...

I am just curious, those that read the story, those that comment. My wife is from Mexico and she came here legally on a K1 Visa. Does anyone happen to know the total cost of the venture? All said and done we are talking thousands and thousands of dollars as well as Thousands of pages of documentation and paperwork. The process took over 1 year. We did it the right way. DHS is one of, if not the most profitable agency within the US government. They are also one of the most difficult to deal with. A couple of points to all this. 1) Mexico it self has a horrible immigration issue with people crossing their own southern boarder. 2) NOT every Dark skin Latin person is a "Mexican" 3) Exactly how do you expect any average person living in Mexico to afford the document fees imposed by DHS? After 9/11 these went up. What used to cost 10 dollars is 100, what used to cost 40 is 400. There there are the multiple filings to consider. EVEN after doing it all right, we were called in for an investigation, which after 20 min the agent in charge was upset that DHS wasted his time. I am all for fixing the immigration issue but a majority of the folks in this country have NO clue what is involved. One more Gotcha here NO , if someone gets married to a US Citizen they are automatically a US Citizen WRONG. Only on TV folks. That has NEVER been true nor is it true today. Day after day my wife is treated with racist remarks and assumptions about her legal status by people in my own town, by DHS when she goes through Security at the airport and the list goes on. God forbid she get a tattoo I would hate to see the reaction to that. Want to be Angry, focus a little of that on your own government. Their hands are pretty deep in what is more of a mess than you can probably comprehend. The figure is about right though, 1 out of 3. 1 out of 3 Americans are complete idiots too.

Unless you are American Indian, your ancestors came to this country as immagrants. This is why the United States is considered a "melting pot" used to describe the fusion of different nationalities, ethnicities and cultures. Unfortunately, your ancestors also received the same hate and animosity you so freely and willingly express to the Latinos and other immigrants in our country. Very sad people don't learn from their mistakes.

The title of this story just shows how ignorant people are....they have obviously never been to the Southwest where generations of Mexican Americans have lived...they believe everything that FOX news and the right wing wackadoodles tell them...

We do not all live in Ghettos. Some of us may be teaching your children in Universities, treating you in Hospitals, protecting you on the street, and doing many jobs that are of benefit to you. My Grandparents were proud of their green cards, their children served in the U.S. Military, paid their taxes and were positive roll models, I've raised my children to be productive members of society and none of us takes our voting rights for granted. We are proud of our Latino heritage and we vote. It is disappointing that every election year, only our group gets pointed out as taking advantage of the benefits provided by our taxes. The color of my skin sets me apart from other Americans, but every time I cast my ballot, it is as an American.

I feel that the first thing is what is a Latino, to me there is no such a race. We come in all colors and ethnic backgrounds so how can we all be the same? I am a LATINO if you will but I am white with brown hair and blue eyes. We need to educate the people, most Americans think a latino is a Mexican. We are not all Mexicans. Even the 2 candidates have it wrong. That's my two cents.

Shouldn't the title read 1 out of 3 non-Hispanic Americans.. There are millions of Hispanic Americans who probably think differently. I am totally appalled at the bigoted and racist comments. One day white Americans will be in the minority, and a lot of this bigotry and racism is going to turned toward us - and deservedly so.

How anyone can even call another human being 'illegal' is mind boggling. Not every person who comes to this country to work the fields and put food on our tables is here illegally. Factually, most are here on work visas and go back to their country of origin when the harvest season is complete. I ask any one who is critical of these people to do this; Instead of taking a vacation with your families, pack them up and go work in the fields & orchards for 12-16 hours a day; picking fruits and vegetables for Americans who have no clue where there food comes from. Remember, there's one 10 minute break to go to the bathroom and if you don't carry your own water, too bad. Try it and see what your opinion of 'illegals' is then.
I find it best not to judge things I know nothing of...

September 12, 2012 at 6:55 pm

" For example, 41 percent of conservative radio talk show listeners think Latinos take jobs away from other Americans, over twice the rate of National Public Radio listeners (19 percent held this opinion)".

Comparing conservative radio to NPR? Implying that NPR represents liberal radio? As a conservative NPR listener, I would object... NPR is not a liberal alternative, but a less political alternative. It may lean to the left in some of it's talk shows, but the news is pretty much down the middle.

September 12, 2012 at 7:21 pm

America is threatened by the largest and fastest growing minority so they start labeling with "illegal" and blah, blah, blah. Latinos are Americans just like everyone else. Get used to it,.

What Rick said is exactly correct. The latino community needs to stand up for America and denounce the illegal invasion. These people are breaking our laws. This article makes it sound like Americans hate latinos, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Americans hate law breakers. There have been good relations with the hispanic community for years before the heavy flow of illegals. Then you have those that desecrate the American flag and wave the Mexican flag and carry signs about taking over the country and killing police. Is it any wonder that law abiding citizens would have concerns?

How dumb can people be. My family move to New Mexico in 1690 from Spain. My grandfather fought in the spanish american war. He only spoke spanish. My family was here before there was a united states. What does that make me?

Why is it that people always want someone to hate? Someone that has to be below them or so they think...how insecure...

September 12, 2012 at 7:24 pm

What is the difference of thinking "Latinos are mostly illegals and thinking being a Muslim makes a person automaticalkly a terrorists. Yet we honor Mommad Ali who is a Muslim, we offer sanctuary to Muslims from Iraq, Bosnia, Africa, etc. Anyone practicing the Muslim faith in public is automatically classified as a terrorists. Anyone who appears to be of Arabic descent is considered to be a terrorist. Why does a President have to be a "Christian"? Why accusing Obama of being a Muslim a detrimental remark. Freedom of religion is part of our Bill of Rights. Nowhere did our forefathers declare we are a Christian nation. People have the same mistaken idea about Latinos as they do about Muslims that do the propaganda of corporate and Federal government controlled mainstream media. The Federal government has done a very good job of brainwashing the dumb downed uneducated masses to be ignorant of the true facts. Being of Latino descent does not make you an illegal alien and being a Muslim does not make you a terrorist.

Ignorance is sad... sadder still, is that we let it exist. In my experience as an American (first generation Hispanic born here), thinking changes when we give the people around us proof of what we want them to see (Hispanics who are a vibrant part of the social/economic structure of the country). I know there are many fellow Americans (of Hispanic origins) who feel they shouldn't have to prove themselves to others... but we need to. BE THAT BETTER PERSON. There are those of us who already KNOW this.

Too many times, the Hispanic communities hide or avoid the mainstream (as a reaction to the discrimination and racism they've dealt with). This makes it easier for them to exist without learning English better (hence the accent they associate with so many of us). But what also gets hidden are all the wonderful, decent people who ARE the example everyone needs to see. Many of those people are NOT happy with how the 'few' make the rest look bad - but they are too busy living their struggle to stop and correct the bad behavior of another. I do not believe that decent, hard-working white or black or asian (or any other group of) people suddenly STOP being good because someone of their same race is acting like an idiot. We need to stop the whole "guilt-by-association" approach.

By simply BEING a good person, I have changed many minds on what someone "thinks" a Hispanic is. Many of my friends did not know until they would be present during a phone call or a visit to my family. And my family too sets an example that we are NOT (nor have ever been) what this poll reveals as a misinterpretation of a wide and diverse selection of people.

Illegal immigration is an issue and a problem that needs to be dealt with... but it is not a measure by which an entire group of people should be judged.

I am an American. I LOVE my country. I would die to protect it. And ALL of the citizens that surround me each day in this country are my countrymen. All I can do is be the best American I can be... be the person I want myself and others to be... prove the lie to be a lie... and it will no longer be a part of the issue.

I can't stop a racist from being a racist... any more than I can stop a good person from being good... I'm just choosing to be good. I just hope that's enough...

"For example, 41 percent of conservative radio talk show listeners think Latinos take jobs away from other Americans, over twice the rate of National Public Radio listeners (19 percent held this opinion)." The above quote says a lot about those who listen to conservative talk radio. I would live to hear about all those wonderful jobs that Latinos have taken away from "other" Americans. Come on, America, When are we as a nation going to stop this nonsense?